The Golden Chain of Redemption: Justification & Glorification

Romans chapter 8 and find verse 27 or excuse me 28 Romans 8 28 and I want to read all the way through to verse 31 tonight.

! We've been working our way through this again what some have called the golden chain of redemption. Two more links left that we're going to look at tonight but let me read this text.

And we know that all things work together for good to those who love God. To those who are the called according to his purpose. For whom he foreknew he also predestined to be conformed to the image of his son.

That he might be the firstborn among many brethren. Moreover whom he predestined these he also called. Whom he called these he also justified.

And whom he justified these he also glorified. What then shall we say to these things? If God is for us who can be against us?

Well Paul said we know something. And I wonder do we? Do we know at least do we know what Paul says that we know?

And he's very resolute about it. Very definite. There's no wavering. No question in his mind. This is something we know. We know something. What do we know?

Well we know. I guess we could sum it up this way. We know that God is directing all of his sovereign wisdom and strength.

Directing it. Exerting it. Toward each one of his children. With this purpose. To conform every one of his children into the very image of his son Jesus.

God's working on that. And he's not just casually doing that. Not just letting things happen. You know. And see how it turns out.

God in all of his infinite strength and wisdom. And according to his sovereign purpose. He is conforming us.

To Jesus. That explains why God allows things to happen to us. In fact. If we're to understand what Paul is saying here. Everything that happens to us.

Enters into that. That's what we know. And I guess we could put it this way. This is our destiny. To be conformed to the image of Christ.

It's the destiny. Our destiny as God's children of grace. Our destiny. And we right now are nowhere near it.

Yet. And we're getting closer. But really we're not there yet. Are we? Nor will we be in this life. Because the image right now.

I hope you would agree with me. You might agree. As related to someone else. But I mean agree to this. In relation to yourself. The image right now is imperfect.

I mean. Isn't that right? Okay. All right. Just want to make sure. But. This is Paul's point. We know.

We know. Or. Maybe. I can't help myself. We. I should add. We ought to know. We know. That God. Is at work.

Bringing us to that glory. We're going to get to the word glory here. In a little bit. That's. That's. That's when all this is finished. All completed. This.

Conforming us to the image of his son Jesus. Will one day be complete. Now. Again. In the mind of God. It's already done. Not that we're there yet. By the way.

God sees time. And according to his purpose. That will not be thwarted. It's done. It's done. All right.

So we know this. Don't we? You should. We should. Though we forget it quite often. And. And not only do we forget this. Quite often.

We. You know. Even if we know that God is doing this. We still fight. And kick. And gripe. And complain. And. It's kind of like parents dragging their little child along. You know. You're going.

Inside the house. You know. No. No. No. And they're squatting and dragging. You're pulling him. I know you don't want to go. But you're going. And God says. You're going there. I'm taking you there.

And we. Gripe and complain about it. But now. As born again Christians. We know. The ultimate outcome.

In our life. Is good. The ultimate outcome of it all. Is good. Really. Beyond our comprehension. And that's kind of a contradiction. To say we know something. And then we don't know it.

Well. I mean. We don't know. What this ultimate good. Is going to look like. We have a description of it here. The image of Christ. And yet. We don't know. We have not.

Quite apprehended. And won't until we get to heaven. But we do know. Should know. That the good. Is leading to that. That. Good. Or that. Glory.

That. That we can barely comprehend. Now I say. Now I say. That we know this. Or we should know this. Based upon what. Paul is going to tell us next.

And we've already. Been through some of this. And we're going to finish it up tonight. And so. Let me review. We know this. Because first of all. We know that God foreknew us. God foreknew us.

And we're not going to go back. Over the ground. That was covered. A couple of. Several weeks ago. But. Before the foundation of the world. God. Took note of us.

He focused his. Attention upon us. And he. Set his favor. Upon us. And he chose us. For his very own. In eternity past.

Before the foundation of the world. Now. Don't misunderstand. He did not wait. After. Putting his eyes upon us. He did not wait. To see how things were going to turn out. He did not wait.

To see what we would be like. He did not wait then. Before he took the next step. He did not wait. To see. If we were worthy of it.

Rather. When it says he foreknew us. It means he chose us. To make us. Exactly what he wanted us to be. And then second.

God predestined us. I know we. Again. Are just all tensed up. About that word. Predestination. Some of us. But he says in verse 19.

For whom he foreknew. He also predestined. He predestined. And so having chose. Chosen us. For his very own.

To be his very own. God then. Determined. Our destiny. Our horizon. Remember we. Kind of. Kind of spoke about that word.

Prohorizo. Is the. Word. In the. Greek text. We get a word. Horizon. Though he adds a preposition to it. So it's to know the horizon. Before it gets here.

And just like the word. For. No. Pre. No. Pre. Horizon. Means that he set. The horizon. He set. The boundary.

And so God. Then. Determined. Our destiny. And he appointed us. Appointed for us. The. The. The most glorious. Of all.

Destinies. To be conformed to the image of his son. Jesus. And. And so God did that. He foreknew us. He predestined us.

And then. Having foreknown us. And predestinated us. Or. Having been predestined us. There. Came a time. In a matter of speaking.

When God. Told us about it. That's. Putting it kind of flippantly. But. What I mean is. God called us. He then. Intersected our lives.

Us. He called us. Verse 30. Moreover. Whom he predestined. These. He also called. And this is the. Saving call.

Of God. Theologians. Have called it. The effectual. Call. Of God. And we talked a little bit about this. Last week. And what I mean is. When. When God issues.

This call. He also. Enables. Us. To respond. And then bring about. His desired result. That's the effectual call.

Now that we're ready to move forward. To the next link. In the golden chain. Of redemption. And it just keeps getting better. And better. In fact. The next one is so. Enormously. Crucial.

That's. A very good way to put it. In words. It's huge. This next thing. And. By the way. You know. We have. Addressed.

And. And. And. And. Considered. This next thing. A number of times. In our study of Romans. Because it just keeps coming up. And it's the word justified. Justified.

I like what. One commentator. Wrote at this point. And I quote. Our confidence. In Romans. 8. 28. Hits. No snags. Until we get to verse 30.

Or really. The mid part. Of verse 30. But between. Verse 28. And verse 30. There. Is this. Massive. Obstacle. Now.

Paul doesn't mention it. He only mentions. How God. Removes the obstacle. Or he used the word. Flattens. The obstacle. It's called sin.

That's the obstacle. That we now. Come to. After. Considering God. For new. You. Predestined. You. Called you. And then there's this big problem.

Sin. Or. More specifically. The wrath. Of God. Against. Sin. That has to be taken care of. Because all of us.

Have sinned. Miserably. We have. We have not. Honored. The glory of God. Romans. 3. 23. We studied that a long time ago. And you know that passage.

And this is who we are. Our. Our hearts. Are deceitful. Above all things. And desperately wicked. Jeremiah. 17. 9. We are. Blinded. By the God.

Of this. Age. This. World. Second. Corinthians. 4. 4. We are. Dead. In trespasses. And sins. Ephesians. Chapter 2. Verse 1. Again. Verse 5.

We are. Futile. The Bible says. Futile. In our thinking. Our minds. Darkened. In our understanding. Alienated. From the life of God. Hardened.

In heart. Ephesians. Chapter 4. 17. 18. By nature. We are children. What does it say? Children of wrath. Or deserving of wrath.

Ephesians. Chapter 2. Verse 3. And the anger of God. Is resting. Residing. Upon us. Because of our. Sin. Our utter sinfulness.

Wickedness. Our depravity. John 3. 36. Is who we are. Now that's a major obstacle. Now again.

Paul doesn't mention that here. And he doesn't have to. Because. What he mentions next. Is the solution for it. And it's justification. Justification.

And so. This is the fourth link. In redemption. And again. It is. A huge one. God justified. Justified us. Verse 30.

Whom he called. He also. Justified. These he also. Justified. Before. Traveling back from Colorado.

A few weeks ago. Sherry and I. And Jonathan. And Jonathan. Griselda. We decided to go up. Pike's Peak. Not walk. But drive.

And. And. So we took that trip. We didn't make it to the top. Because of snow. And high winds. And. Which was. Kind of a disappointment. We got pretty close.

Been a mile or so. Got above the timber line. And it was quite interesting. We all thought. We were going to be blown. Off the top of the mountain. And. And so we went up. Pike's Peak.

And. If we had been able to go. To the top of. Pike's Peak. We would have been. 14,110. Feet. Above sea level. Now. My son.

Jonathan. Read an article. About. How they've. Remeasured it. And guess what. Pike's Peak has grown. A few hundred feet. But anyway. That's a long way up. Isn't it? 14,000. Plus feet.

And as tall as that is. Pike's Peak. Is the. 20th. Largest. Or highest peak. In the Rocky Mountains. So there are several. That are higher. A lot higher.

But higher. And. Not only that. But Pike's Peak. Is one. Of. A hundred. Peaks. In the Rocky Mountain. Range. That are higher. Than 12,000 feet.

Above sea level. So. The point I'm making. Is that the Rocky Mountain. Is. I mean. It's this huge mountain range. It is a. Formidable. Barrier. Or obstacle.

If you want to go west. Right. I mean. You just drive up. Pike's Peak. Or get to a certain point. Look around. And these. Huge. Mountain. Mountains. I mean. Just think about.

Trying to get across. Those mountains. Now. Let me make this illustration. We. Drove up. Pike's Peak. We were in Colorado Springs. And made our way up there.

And so. Let me. Apply it this way. Between. Between. The. Colorado Springs. Of. Predestination. And the Pacific Coastline.

Of. Glorification. Rises. The impassable. Or seemingly. Impassable. Rocky Mountains. Of God's. Righteous. Wrath. Against me.

Because of my sin. Now. Put aside. The quirky. Little illustration. Here. Here. But do you understand. This poses a tremendous problem.

Or at least it seems so. From our vantage point. There's no problem for God. See. Because. Justification. Is the means.

By which. God. Levels. That obstacle. Takes it completely away. Or. Flattens. The Rocky Mountains. In that sense.

He levels it. Removes it. This obstacle. Of his wrath. That. Prevents. My sin. From.

Frustrating. His purposes. God. Did that. Through. Justification. And his purpose. Is to bring me to glory. My sin. Stands in the way.

And God solves that. Totally. And the word justified. Is. Is. The answer. The solution. The word justified.

By the way. Is from the Greek. Oh. From the Greek word. Asune. Or. Excuse me. That's the word for righteousness.

Dikai. Oh. If you're writing this down. You're writing this down. But I mentioned. Dikai. Asune. Because that is the word for righteousness. And the root of it.

Is the same. But in this case. Dikai. Oh. Means. Justified. And it means. To declare righteous. God declared you. Righteous.

As righteous. As Jesus. That's justification. I was reading the other day. About Martin Luther. And. Not Martin Luther King.

I mean. Martin Luther. The great reformer. And. Luther. Of course. If you know anything about his life. For the better part of his life. He could. Not find peace with God.

Just couldn't find peace. He had this. Deep. Deep. Deep sense. Of his own sinfulness. And. He. He could not find peace. No matter what he tried.

According to. To. To man's efforts. And he tried every way possible. At least. According to his own ideas. He tried sleeping on the floor. At night. That sounds like a good way.

To. Find peace with God. Doesn't it? But this is the thinking of. Luther. And. The people of his day. He tried going without food.

For long periods of time. He even. Get this. He even climbed. A staircase. On his hands and knees. Sounds silly. Doesn't it? Wasn't silly.

For Martin Luther. And a host of other things. That he did. Because you see. He thought. That. The punishment. Of his own body. Would bring him. Peace. With God.

It was somehow. Appease God. And. And would somehow. Cause God. To remove. This. This. Torment. Because. Of.

His deep sense. Of sinfulness. Before God. Now. To us. That all sounds. Very silly. Doesn't it? And yet. People try. Many other ways. To.

Work. Through effort. Through. Some kind. Self-denial. Self-denial. Or some. Self-punishment. In order. To. To find peace. But. Here was.

Luther's. Problem. Doctrinally. When he would read. In the Bible. About the righteousness. Of God. He thought. It was referring. To God's wrath.

He thought. That. The righteousness. Of God. Was referring. To God's. Punitive. Righteousness. Whereby. He punishes. Sinners. That's what he thought.

And so. One day. Luther. Was studying. The book. Of Romans. And. He. Read. There. In Romans. Chapter 1. Verse 16. About. What Paul. Said. About the gospel.

Being the power. Of God. And the salvation. To everyone. Who believes. And he. And he loved that. That. That was wonderful. And. And. It was exhilarating. For him.

To read that passage. But then. He. Read. On. To the next. Verse. And it says. For in it. That is in the gospel. The righteousness. Of God.

Is revealed. And there. Was that discouraging. Word. Righteousness. Or the phrase. Righteousness. Of God. And Luther's. Depression. Returned. And.

He got even worse. When he read. A little bit further. In verse 18. For the wrath. Of God. Is revealed. From heaven. Against all. Ungodliness. And unrighteousness. Of man. And so.

Luther. Turned back. To verse 17. To read. Read it again. And he thought. How could Paul. Say. Or have written. Such terrible. Words. Such discouraging.

Words. And so. He read it again. And again. And again. For. In it. The righteousness. Of God. Is revealed. From.

Faith. To faith. As it is written. The just. Shall live. By faith. And he read it again. For. In it. The gospel. The.

In it. The gospel. The righteousness. Of God. Is revealed. From faith. To faith. As it is written. The just. Shall live.

By. Faith. And it. Suddenly. Dawned on him. The light. Was shining. In. In his mind.

In his heart. At that moment. Because suddenly. He realized. That the righteousness. Of God. Of which Paul. Was writing. What Paul. Had in mind. Was not God's.

Punitive justice. Which. Leads him. To punish. Sinners. But rather. It was God's. Righteousness. Which he freely. Gives. To sinners.

Because that. Is exactly. What we need. And must have. And without it. Have no hope. Whatsoever. It finally.

Dawned on him. That's what. What. Paul's talking about. And. It's a righteousness. That the sinner. Receives. By faith. It's a. Perfect. Righteousness.

Earned. By whom. By Jesus Christ. And. Now. By sleeping. On the floor. Instead of. In a bed. And. Not.

Climbing. Stairs. On hands. And knees. Going. Without food. It's a righteousness. That was earned. By Jesus Christ. Alone. And it is a righteousness. That God.

Graciously. Bestows. Upon. All. Who believe. That's what. Luther. Discovered. And so. Luther. Did not need to seek.

To appease God. Through some good works. Or some. Self-denial. Or some affliction. Self-affliction. Luther. Luther. Could now. Look away from. Himself.

And look to Christ. And live by faith. Rather than. Draveling in fear. Which is what he had done.

For most of his life. Luther. Finally understood. Romans 5. 1. Therefore. Having been justified. By faith. We have peace. With God.

Through our Lord. Jesus Christ. That's. That's where peace comes. And it was at that moment. Of course. That the Protestant Reformation. Was birthed. Justified.

Justified. Our sin. You see. Cannot. Thwart. God's. Purposes. For those. Whom he foreknew. And predestined.

Because on the basis. Of the cross. God declared. Me righteous. Not because I deserved it. Not because.

One day. I might deserve it. But. Totally. According to his grace. God. He declared me. Righteous.

As righteous. As. His son. Jesus. I mean. God. Today. Sees me.

Sees you. As righteous. As his son. Jesus Christ. Why? Because God. Sees. Me. In Christ. I'm in him.

And if you. Are born again. Believing. You're in him. And so. Therefore. It's true. To say. That God. Sees me. As though.

I had never. Sinned. He doesn't. Just see me. As a sinner. Who is now. Forgiven. He sees me. As though.

I had never. Sinned. He sees me. As though. I had. Always. Perfectly. Obeyed him. That's.

Justified. Luther. Called. The doctrine. Of justification. By faith. The article. Of a standing. Or falling. Church. Now. What do you mean.

By that? Well. Luther. Would know. What he meant. By that. No. Not. Luther. Would know. What he meant. I mean. Luther. Would know. This.

To be true. And you'll know. Why. Here. In just a moment. Because he meant this. If the church. Is right. On this doctrine. The doctrine. Of justification.

By faith. It will be. Basically. Right. On all other doctrines. But if it is wrong. On this doctrine. The doctrine. Of justification.

By faith. It will be wrong. On every other. Teaching. As well. So the church. Or justification. By faith. Is the article. Of a standing.

Or falling. Church. Calvin said. That the doctrine. Of justification. Is the main. Hinge. On which. Religion. Turns. That's pretty.

Bold statement. One more link. In the golden chain. Of redemption. God. Glorified. Us. Verse 30. And whom.

He justified. These. He also. Glorified. Now the word. Glorified. Comes from. A word. The root. Of which. We get our word.

Doxology. From. And we think of word. The word. Doxology. Meaning. To praise. To worship. And it certainly. Does. Mean. That. But it is. The word. Duxize.

Glory. And. Doxazo. Is the word. Here. In. The text. Justified. And it means.

To render. Glorious. That may not help you. Very much. The word. Glory. Means. The shining. Preferred to mean.

The shining. The out. Out. Shining. It can mean. The. Reflection. Of. That. Shining. That light.

That glory. You see. God. Is. All. Glorious. And. Other. Things. Are. Reflections. Of. His. Glory. Jesus.

His. Son. As. Our. Redeemer. And. As. The. One. Who. Sacrificed. Himself. Upon. The. Cross. Jesus. Of course.

As. Is. The. One. Man. That. Is. The. Perfect. Reflection. Of. God. Of. God. And.

If. Then. We. Too. Will. Be. Justified. Or. Excuse me. Glorified. Then. One. One. Day. We. We. Too. Will. Be. Perfect. Mirrors.

Or. Reflections. Of. God's. Glory. Glorified. Render. Glorious. Now. Again. In the mind.

And. Purposes. Of. God. We. Have. Already. Been. Glorified. This. Is. Done. Again. The word. Appears. In. The past tense. Doesn't it? Even. In the English. And. It's a done deal.

As far as. God. Is concerned. So. Don't worry. That God. Is going to change. His mind. About this. There's real security. There. That's not going to change. His mind. There's not any way.

That you can. Remove yourself. Out of this. You're glorified. In the mind. Of God. And. To be glorified. Involves.

Or entails. Three things. Very quickly. First of all. One day. As God's children. We.

Will. Share. In the glory. Of. His son. Jesus. We. Will. Share. We. Will. Become. Perfect.

Reflectors. Of his glory. Of God's glory. Remember. Romans 8. 17. If we are children. Or since we are children. Then heirs. Heirs of God. And fellow heirs.

With Christ. Provided we suffer. With him. In order that we may also. Be glorified. With him. How about Romans 5. 2.

Through Christ. We have obtained access. To his grace. In which we stand. And we rejoice. In our hope. Of the glory. Of God. God. And don't forget.

1st Peter 5. 1. So I exhort. The elders. Among you. As fellow elder. And a witness. Of the sufferings. Of Christ. As well as. And this is what Paul said. As a potato.

Peter rather. A partaker. In the glory. That is. To be revealed. And how about. Colossians 3. 4. When Christ.

Who is our life. Appears. Then you also. Will appear. With him. In glory. In glory. In his glory.

I like the way. John Piper put it. He said. Having chosen us. For his own. He then appointed. For us. The most glorious.

Destiny. To be conformed. To the image. Of his son. So that. The son. That's Jesus. Could be. The preeminent one.

With his glory. Reflected. In millions. Of mirrors. Of himself. That's. Incredible statement. That's us.

Millions. Of mirrors. Of himself. That hasn't happened yet. We're not there yet. This is. Our destiny.

Second. One day. The second thing. That. To be glorified. Entails. One day. We will. We'll receive. A new.

And glorious. Body. Amen. Amen. I thought. I'd just go ahead. And say that for you. Wes. Because I knew you. You know. All right. Thank you. Thank you.

How about Romans. Chapter eight. We're in that chapter. Look up there. Verse 21. Because the creation itself. Also will be delivered.

From the bondage of corruption. Into the glorious liberty. Of the children of God. For we know. That the whole creation. Groans. And labors. With birth pangs. Together. Until now.

This renewal. This. This new. And glorious body. First. Correct. Or excuse me. Philippians. Chapter three. And verse 20. Our citizenship. Is in heaven. And from it.

We await a savior. And the Lord. Jesus Christ. Who will change. Our lowly body. To be like his glorious body. By the power. Which enables him. Even to subject.

All things to himself. A body. Like his glorious body. First Corinthians. Fifteen. Forty two. So is it. With the resurrection. Of the dead. So is.

It is. With the resurrection. Of the dead. What is sown. Is perishable. What is raised. Is imperishable. It is sown. In dishonor.

It is raised. In glory. It is sown. In weakness. It is raised. In power. Can you. Imagine a time. Where there's no pain. Jonathan and I.

My son. Jonathan and I. Got out. And raked leaves. All day. Most of the day. Saturday. Filled up. Eleven or twelve. Huge bags. Of leaves. I was never so tired.

In my life. Of course. I say that every time. I get out and work. Tired. Weary. Weak. Can you imagine? No weakness. No. No. Weariness. No.

Bad backs. No. Bad knees. Anybody have a bad back in here? No. No more.

Blindness. Get rid of these things. And. No more cancer. No more diseases. No more death. Now that part we like. Don't we? Because that's real tangible.

That. That. That. Kind of hits us where we live right now. But I would say to you. This is a lesser benefit. Of. Of. Of. Glorified.

Lesser than. Of course. That first one. And. Lesser than. I think. This third one. One more thing. Glorified means.

One day. We will be. Holy. Holy. Inside and out. Perfectly. Holy. We can't begin to imagine that.

Right now. Sometimes we. Have delusions. And think we're holier than we really are. But. To be absolutely. Perfectly.

Holy. Complete holiness. By the way. This process. Is. Already started. We don't call it holiness. We call it sanctification.

That's another very. Key doctrine. Of salvation. Paul doesn't mention it here. Because that's not part of what he's. Telling us. Sanctification. Is here.

In Romans 8. In the sense. That it. Is the. Culmination. Of. Glorification. Is the culmination. Of it. That's the end result.

See. See. Sanctification. Is work. Started at salvation. The moment you believe. God begins to work. He's still working on me. That song. You know.

And. And it's. Then it's completed. That work is completed. In heaven. And so. Glorification. Is the goal. The end. Of sanctification. Holy.

Inside and out. Second Corinthians. 318. And we all. With unveiled face. Beholding the glory. Of the Lord. And are being. Changed. Into his likeness.

From one degree. Of glory. To another. For this comes. From the Lord. Who is the spirit. Second Corinthians. 416. So. We do not. Lose heart.

Though our outer nature. Is wasting away. Our inner nature. Is being renewed. Every day. For. This. Slight. Momentary.

Affliction. Is preparing us. An eternal. Weight. Of glory. Beyond. All. Comparison. That's a great. Great passage. Especially in that translation.

So. There. You have it. The golden chain. Of redemption. God. Forknew. Us. He saw us. And selected us.

And. Predestined us. He set our destiny. And called us. Justified us. And glorified us.

All past tense. It is as sure. As God is sure. And God is sure. God is sure. Is it then any mystery. Why Paul would then say.

What then shall we say. To these things. After all of that. What can we say. Just this one thing. If God is for us.

Who can be against us. Amen.